SCBear

Hopefully this will be a good game and worth the long drive up from Knoxville. SC has some talent but they have been playing some very inconsistent ball. Penalties, TO's and a lack of basic execution at times have really made their first three games a little fustrating. I keep waiting for them to put a complete game together but I finally realized after the JC win that we are what we are; an OK team who has moments of being very good followed by head scratching moments of extreme medocrity. So far, we have gotten away with that type of play but against a quality opponent like DB that sort of effort won't get it done. SC bio: We will run or throw from the spread with 4 receiver formations. QB Zac Flynn has a very good arm and can make all the throws. Unfortunately, he has already thrown 5 pics because he will force the ball into tight coverage sometimes. Danny Chastain is the back-up QB and he comes in when they want to give a change of pace. With him they will run the veer mostly to take advantage of his wheels but he can also throw the ball pretty well too. The RB's are Dakota Cogdill who is a more physical runner and Kel McCarter who is faster. Both are goood, solid RB's. The WR's are led by Bryce Whaley but honestly, this group is really made up of a catch-by-committe. There really isn't any superstars or big time playmakers, just a bunch of steady, reliable receivers who catch most of the passes they should. The O line hasn't given up many sacks and has produced decent rushing numbers. The Defense has been solid if unspectacular for the most part. They are not very big so that could be cause for trouble plus they are a little nicked up at the LB position. This will be a big test for them against the speedy, athletic skill players that DB always has. The special teams are't anything very special outside of the horrific kick off coverage unit. They were some better last week but honestly they had no other choice but to improve. In fact, the first two games were so bad that kicking the ball out bounds would have been an improvement with this unit. DB will make some plays here I would wager. A few key areas of concern: Our WR's have been very steady but they aren't the most athletic, dynamic bunch. Will they be able to get open against the most athletic secondary we will have faced thus far? If we can't pass, we won't win. Period. The defense had been pretty steady but they sprung a few leaks against the Patriots last week which is cause for concern. If that unit shows up with the same effort against the Tribe, Sensabaugh & Co. will have a field day.

Should be a good game between two former Region 1 members. SC gutted out a hard fought victory at Halls last week but their execution in certain aspects was horrible. Penalties, turnovers, lack of composure and their horrendious kick off coverage made this a much closer game then it should've been. QB Zack Flynn especially has to start taking better care of the ball. He has already thrown four interceptions in this very young season. He is a very accurate passer with a good arm but sometimes he forces too many passes into tight coverage. Look for SC to spread the field with 4 receiver sets where they can either throw or run. They will also mix in a little veer with the backup QB, #5 Danny Chastain. This years WR corps doesn't have a dynamic playermaker like Patrick Miller but they do catch just about everything that they can get their hands on. Dakota Cogdill (more physical) and Kel Mcardel (more elusive) are the primary RB's. They won't wow you with their speed but they are steady, workman like backs who have had a nice year so far. The defense has been solid (especially considering the poor field position they have inherited from the terrible coverage units and turnovers). I think teams are only averaging something like 2.5 to 3 yards a carry so far which is acceptable. We haven't really played a great passing team yet so it is hard to guage just how good the secondary is but they haven't given up many yards or big plays either. Like the rest of the team, however, they lose their focus once in a while and will give up a big play or have an ill timed penalty that makes you wonder where their minds are. Kick off coverage has never been a forte of SC but this unit may be the worst in the Brewer era. They just need to onside kick it or kick it out of bounds..... everytime.....period. Just terrible. This unit alone has kept both Halls and WB in games that they should have won by more comfortable margins. How good is SC? Who knows for sure. Sometimes they look very good and at other times they look very mediocre. The truth be told, they are probably somewhere in the middle. It is certain though that if they have another another game like they did against Halls, the Patriots will have enough to get the win.

That is an interesting observation about the Red Devils D Line. Whenever I think of Halls I am always reminded of a physical, aggressive defense that is near impossible to run on with any consistent success. Don't really know how good our running game is this year (modest 3.5 yards average on 31 attempts last week) because most of our damage was done thru the air. I do know that we do not have near the running athletes that Clinton has so that coupled with past experience leads me to believe that we will struggle running the ball again (shoot we couldn't hardly run last year and that was with Patrick Miller running rough shod thru your young secondary). Should be pretty entertaining seeing how all of this plays out with SC's strength pitted against Halls strength. And as is usually the case when we line it up with Halls our defense will be tested once again by their WingT and zone blocking. Even though we had moderate success slowing down WB's version of the WingT (their TO's also had a hand in it too), the Red Devils have perefected the art of time consuming, ball control drives. On a side note, we have never been known for our great kick off coverage units but I sure do hope it gets better quick because it was pretty anemic last week (even by our lowly standards).

My comment wasn't directed at any of the schools you mentioned as I actually have no problem with any of those particular teams. West and East are solid programs. Jeff Co. is a former region 1 member with a storied past. Seymour is an old county rival who has been on the schedule for a while so they get a free pass. However, you conveniently forgot to mention the three smallest programs in the region that we are now forced to play. Sorry to insult your trojan pride but Newport, Cherokee and South-Doyle do very little to get my competitive juices pumping (no insult intended to those schools). There is a reason a UT/Florida ticket is much harder to come by versus, say, a Wyoming. Also being hamstrung into playing four former AAA schools compared to only three former AAAAA schools in the same season now does very little to get your team ready to compete with the big boys. At least under the old classification system the schools in your region had a comparable student enrollement to your own so if you wanted to schedule a smaller school outside of district play it was totally up to you. Not anymore. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the confusing TSSAA formula for determining the playoff seedings and invites now punishes teams with a weaker strength of schedule. As far as your gaudy record against us all I can say is, "get in line." You ain't the only ones on that bus. SC isn't an Oak Ridge, Maryville, DB or any other traditional power. Never claimed it. However, just because we aren't doesn't mean that we should shy away from (or be foricibly limited) to lining up against the best possible competition that we can schedule if for no other reasons then to: sustain a viable, competitive program, compare and evaluate your program against the top teams and to keep the fan interest up. At least that's the way I feel.

Naw tpoole12, just waiting for a Gov's fan to start a thread on what has become a very enjoyable season opening rivalry. Must have missed this thread last week while perusing CoachT. Anyway, as FSU has already pointed out this team has not scrimmaged outside of the McCallie camp so few have seen them in pads (including me). Therefor, the only information I can give you is based off of last years performances. What I do know is that we lost our best LB (Feezel), DLineman (Sutton) and most importantly our best all around play in Patrick Miller. From his WR position he led the team in Receiving Yards, TD's and as a CB led the team (and league) in Interceptions. To top it off he was a very solid place kicker. Probably one the best all around players SC has had since Cory Watson and Shane Kelly. Last years team, while improved from the awful '07 team, was noticably weak in its Line Play. Even with Miller stretching the field we could not sustain any sort of run blocking. The D Line wasn't much better as we were consistently inconsistent stopping the other team's ground game. Science Hill, Campbell County and Bearden were especially cringe inducing efforts. Don't know what the problem was because individualy they looked alot better then the sum of their parts reflected in their performance. Maybe some of this has been corrected as some of the good news coming out of the McCallie camp was that coach Brewer specifically pointed out the O Line's impressive run and pass blocking. Time will tell. On offense QB Zach Flynn returns and should improve on a very good season last year. He is not going to outrun too many people but he has a very good arm and a good presence in the pocket. Jr. Dakota Cogdill will be the featured TB. He will not be as fast as the graduated Tyler Thomas but he will provide a tougher, more aggressive running style who will not go down easy (rushed for about 180 yards against Karns). He will also be a threat catching the ball out of the backfield. Look also for the smaller, quicker Kel McCarter to give a nice change of pace. Already pointed out the loss of Miller but most of the WR corp returns intact so what they lack in big play potientel (and size) should be offset some in experience and numbers (for what it's worth they performed well in Dobyn-Bennets passing league without starting QB Flynn participating). I know I am forgetting some names but I believe that Matt Spangler is probably the best of this bunch. The one wildcard of the skill positions will be backup QB Danny Chastain. He is a good athlete who would come in and run the option some last year when a running threat was needed but he is also a fine wide receiver and has the potential to be our main playmaker as he will be utilized at different positions. The O line "appears" to be improved led by returning starters Zach Peppers and Ross "Hog" Heatherly. This is the biggest question mark of the offense cause if they perform like last years unit did then we will struggle moving the chains consistently again......plain and simple. Defensively this group needs to be more consistent also. For whatever reason (chemistry, speed, quickness, formation?) last season the defense was up and down. One half they looked solid then the next half they were like a sieve. Too be honest, I don't know as much about the personnel on this side of the ball (especially the D Line) as graduation hit harder on this side of the ball but I can't believe that they will perform any worse. Special teams is anyone's guess right now. Just hoping it will not be a repeat of the nightmare game like it was in WB's '06 win. The main cause for optimism is that the core of this years team should be made up from their very good '07 Freshmen class who saw some action as Sophmores last year. Does their pedigree translate into more W's? That is the $6,000,000, question right now. By the way, did I ever say how much I hate this new realignment fiasco? I would much rather be in the Gov's region a hundred fold. Play the big boys and find out what you got. Being "strong armed" into playing smaller, non-competitive schools is a sham.

Obviously by my screen name you can tell I am not a Soddy fan so I don't know all of the intricacies of their team but I did get out to the Bearden playoff game. Game went pretty much according to what I thought it would from what I had seen of Bearden previously (good running attack) and what I had heard about Soddy (good passing attack). First half Soddy had real trouble stopping the dimiutive but elusive Devrin Young playing a soft 4 - 4 defense and their offense had trouble holding on to the ball falling behind 21 - 10 at the half. The second half the coaching staff wised up and figured out that Bearden solely relied upon Young's legs for their offense and that they could not throw the ball. They f-i-n-a-l-l-y dropped another defender into the line (5 - 3) and walked their other LB's up to the line and dared them to beat them with the pass. Props to the Soddy coaches. Between this adjustment, Bearden's own second half miscues and the Bulldog's inability to stop the Trojan passing attack (yes, especially the slant route) Soddy shut them out the second half and won the game going away 30 - 21. Did not notice any injuries sustained by any of their key players. Casual one game observations: Soddy has a very nice passing attack with a standout WR (#9) and an athletic running back (#2) "but" their O line had real trouble opening any running lanes and appeared to be the weak link. The rushing attack was almost non-existent and its not like Bearden has a dominating defense either. Maybe Soddy has never run the ball well the other part of the season neither? The rushing defense was solid "after" the coaching staff made the proper adjustements but they were also playing a one dimensional offense. Again, I am not sure how strong their D line is and it will be interesting to see how they fare against a more balanced offense. Finally, their fans and band were really active throughout the whole game. Question though, what is up with all the cowbells and noise makers? Students, women, little old ladies they all had some sort of cowbell, blow horn, plastic bottle with pennies, etc. Impressive support but boy does the sound of that many cowbells become very irratating by the fourth quarter. /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" /> If I had to guess based on what I have seen of Soddy and heard and experienced with Ooltewah type athletes (previous playoffs 01, 06) I would think that the Owls D Line would be the difference in this game. If they are as imposing and athletic as most say then they should be able to disrupt the Trojans passing attack enough to garner the victory. Just not sure about the Trojans Line play, especially the offense. However, if the line steps up and the Owls can't get to Soddy's QB, with the weapons they have at WR then I could see the Trojans pulling the upset. Should be an entertaining game.

Looks like all of my original predictions are still in play. Only thing I will add is that there will be no Region 1 teams left in the playoffs after the second round.

Haven't seen any of the Region 2 teams play but if history is any indicator then most years they are usually better at the top and deeper overall then Region 1. Ooltewah - Campbell Co./Sevier Co. More then likely this will be Campbell Co. as the Cougars should be able to exploit Karns weak run defense (even Sevier Co. ran all over them) and wrap up the final playoff spot. Doesn't really matter though because whoever plays here the Owls will totally dominate in a blowout. T$$AA cash grab game at its finest. Farragut - Science Hill DB should dispatch of the Toppers once again this Friday so that will drop SH into this slot. QB Kinley for the Toppers is a fine athlete who single handily destroyed us but I am assuming that the Ads will have a much better run defense then what we have so they should at least slow him down some and if they do SH will struggle. Farragut wins this one easily. Bearden - Soddy Daisy Above Ads and Toppers analogy can also apply here as this one falls on Soddy's run defense. Devrin Young is a very good RB for Bearden "but" if Daisy has any semblence of a rushing defence (again, unlike Sevier Co.) that at least can slow Young down some then they can win. Slow Young and SD has a good chance of beating Bearden because he is their offense (passing game wasn't very good the "few" attempts tried against Sevier Co.). Plus, if Soddy Daisy has a passing attack like others are saying then that can spell big trouble for Bearden also because they can definitley be had through the air. Should be the most competetive game of the first round. McMinn - Kingsport DB Oak Ridge has no shot tommorow night against the Ads so McMinn grabs the last spot. At first glance this should be Region 1's easiest chance for a victory, however, two things keep me from betting the house on the Tribe. DB's recent history of early exits (3 first round losses to a Region 2 fourth seed in the last 7 years I believe) and they haven't been nearly as impressive the last four weeks of the season (struggled at home to put away a very average Sevier Co. team). I am guessing that McMinn isn't quiet as strong as the previous 4th seeded teams have been so I will go with DB in this one (with a little trepidation) and predict that this will be Region 1's lone team to advance.

You guys crack me up. /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" /> Really you do. This team just got smacked really hard by a decent (yes, I said decent) Campbell Co. team at home last week and you all are making it sound like Don "Air" Coryell and his '81 Chargers are coming to town. Bear Bryant would definitly be proud. By the way, if we are the best passing team that you face this year then condolences to your schedule. These Bears are playing some really bad football right now. This game will be over by halftime and if its not, then I as a Tribe fan would be really concerned about my team advancing very far in the playoffs.

No offense, but outside of a few of those schools that would be an awful conference. Seymour? Cocke? Cherokee? Those teams aren't even competitive in the smaller classifications where they reside now. With us being "strong armed" in to playing bottom feeders like these and only one other (6A)5A school in the region we will have to schedule the NFC East just to qualify for the playoffs. By the way, hope the gas savings are worth it because some of those gates won't pay the water bill to flush the urinals. Thanks T$$AA for trying your best to kill HS football.

Heard from a friend, of a friend, of a friend of coach Brewer's that he is adament about keeping the DB Band on the Smoky Bears future schedule (the football team was also issued an invite to tag along if they wish).

I will be shocked if DB even has a competitive game before they face the Ads or the Owls in the second round of the playoffs.

JcToPpEr103803 You're thinking of Corey Watson who graduated in '06. No, Zac Flynn is no Watson, not even close, but he is mobile enough to avoid the pass rush. Where as Corey was a great runner who played QB, Zac is a more traditional passing QB who would rather "wing-it" then "run-it".

Our WR's and DB's are of average height so we don't have any imposing figures that are going to intimidate anyone such as it appears that SHHS has. As far as the WR's, Sevier County basically has a receiving corp by committe because outside of Patrick Miller the rest of the group is rather pedestrian. They are not going to overwhelm anyone with their physical talent or stature but they usually catch the passes that they should and run good routes. Actually the straw that stirs the passing game is QB Zac Flynn. He has a strong arm and is pretty accurate. His greatest attribute however, is his ability to stay calm in the pocket and go trough his reads until he finds an open receiver, even while under extreme distress. He generally makes very good decisions and doesn't seem to get flustered in the pocket easily. Other factors that will decide the game will be the play of both lines I believe. It's true that this year we are pretty big in the O line but that hasn't neccassarily translated into a great running game like you would think. This group has been very inconsistent run blocking all season and in fact we have had some truely dismal rushing performances such as the Halls and West games. Fortunately for us, their pass blocking has been better so when teams have shut down the ground game the passing game has been able to carry us. The D line is about the same. They are big also but they too have been a bit inconsistent as well, especially the run defense on the edge. Between the tackles they are pretty solid, however it appears their biggest trouble is with the ends getting pinched and losing containment which allows the running backs to get to the corners and into our secondary. Like the rest of the team for two or three quarters they look like Pittsburgh's old "Steel Curtain" (Halls) and then at other times they inexplicably morph into a "Shower Curtain" (Halls). Our secondary is pretty untested as outside of Karns we haven't played any team with a very good passing attack so it is hard to judge them. Karns with their tall receivers torched us in the first half pretty good but to their credit the secondary stepped it up and played much better in the second half. As far as the team in general, that pretty much sums up their play to this point. Consistently inconsistent and fustratingly content best describes this years Bears squad. At times both offensively and defensely they look like a very good team while at others they can look rather poor. As such, they have been playing with fire all season by allowing games they seemingly had in complete control almost slip away late because they ended up losing their focus for a period of time. Now that the schedule is getting tougher that recipe will end in losses for sure if we don't start playing a full 48 minutes.

Pretty good assessment. The Bears have yet to play a complete game on either side of the ball but they have been very resilient in finding different ways to win. The biggest thing they need to work on is consistency. Each game they have had opportunities to put the other team away and win comfortably going away only to go into a lull (defense and offense) where they fail to execute basic plays (fumbled snap, key penalty, defensive breakdown, turnover, etc.) thus giving the other team mometum and letting them back in the game. Maybe this is the week where they put it all together. It was good to see the emergence of Dakota Cogdill last week as he adds a toughness to the running game that we will need. By the way, does anyone know the status of Tyler Thomas? After the way West embarrassed them last year the Bears shouldn't have any trouble getting up for this one so motivation shouldn't be a factor.

With our inconsistent offense (just horrible last week rushing the ball) and an apparently improved Beaver squad this game will not be a pushover by no means. If Sevier County is going to make the playoffs this is a game that they absolutely, positively must win. The remaining region games will only get harder from here on out.

Interesting. Halls fans starting to gain confidence. Talking about romping, stomping and dominating. I like it. /popcorneater.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":popcorneater:" border="0" alt="popcorneater.gif" /> Agree with your assessment of the line play and its importance. Everyone usually focuses on the skill players but I believe that this one will be decided by the "big uglies" upfront on both sides of the ball. It seems that Halls always has a very physical presence in the trenches and it sounds like this years team is no different. The Bears are bigger upfront than last year so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

SCHS2008 Thanks for the update on Aaron. His return should help the passing attack if nothing else just because of the deep threat that his speed will provide us with. Does anyone know if he will also play in the secondary? By the way, welcome to all of these SCHS fans that have found their way to CoachT recently. Hope that everyone continues to bring it strong!

If the score is that close than DB is not the powerhouse I thought they were.

He won't play (broken collarbone). I believe he is expected to be out approximately another four weeks or so.

That is a real shame about Alex. Hopefully he will get his act together and not be another shortsighted youth who ends up wasting a rare opportunity to help himself. I don't know the extent of Aaron's injury but hopefully it is not too serious as his speed would be a major boost to the receiving corps. Just read where Charlie's injury is apparently season ending. That does hurt our return game as that is a weak spot of ours so far. On the other hand though, after reading about all of the injuries sustained by Halls and WB I guess we could definitely be in a lot worse shape.

fsu Who are the two WR injuries? I know one is Aaron Pippen but I am not sure who the other is (Charlie Fields perhaps?). By the way, I didn't see Alex Pate anywhere last night, is he still on the team?

You think so SCHSfan? I would be shocked if we could just line up and run the ball only with any amount of success without the benefit of a good passing attack. I thought last night that we were actually pretty balanced between the pass and the run and I believe that's what it will take again. In fact, I thought the coaches did a good job of using both the run and pass to set up specific plays which resulted in rushing and passing TD's because of that balance. History has proven that Halls will have their usual stout defense (especially against the run) so I believe we are actually going to have to pass consistently to keep them from putting 8 in the box and really clogging the running lanes. Also hearing from various Halls fans their line is their strength and their secondary is the weakest part of their defense due to injuries and youth. I believe that getting into a grinding out game with Halls plays right into thier hands because it is a style they excell at.

Just to add some to what SCHSfan2008 has already told you. We ran the spread offense utulizing 4 receivers the majority of the time last night (and a few series from the offest power I formation) with a pretty even mixture of passing and rushing plays called. I would assume that it will be the same for Halls. Junior Zack Flynn is the new QB this year making his first start. He throws a nice accurate pass and is an OK runner who doesn't seem to get very flustered under pressure. The receiving corps is a little bit of a group effort as a lot of receivers are used with Patrick Miller being the best of the bunch. Don't really have any dynamic playmakers in this group who can stretch the field but they were pretty solid catching the passes that they should. Tyler Thomas is the featured TB (rushed for over a 100 yards last night) who is a short spark plug that will not wow you with his open field moves but is pretty fast and a tough runner for his size. Sophomore Dakota Cogdill alternates with him and offers a little more size and strength with less speed and quickness. The offensive line is pretty big and played well except for committing way too many holding penalties in the second half which killed a few drives. With the lack of big time playmakers this offense looks to be set up more for precision short to intermediate pass routes and a solid running game that benefits from spreading out the defense. The defense lines up in a 4-4. We actually have some pretty good size up front on this side of the ball this year. They played well last night and led by Patrick Sutton were able to pressure or sack the WB QB on several occasions. The LB's are led by Andrew Feezel who is our best player on defense. A real ball hawk who just makes plays. Isaac McMahan is also a nice young LB to look out for too. The secondary is solid with CB Patrick Miller being the best of this group. The only thing this unit didn't do well last night was tackle the ball carrier consistently. Too many missed tackles that kept drives alive for the Govs that should have been stopped. Also gave up a few long third down conversions that either led to a first down or a short fourth down. As far as the special teams, Patrick Miller handles the kicking duties and is steady at PAT's and FG's. However, punting is a different story as we had a couple of very short punts along with a high center snap that resulted in a safety. The kick and punt returners were also pedestrian at best and contributed very little to the offense or shifting the field position in our favour. Overall the team played pretty good last night as a whole. The offense still needs more work on executing consistently but appears to be better than last year. The D is more sound as of now but hopefully will correct their minor tackling issues and lack of execution on third downs.

Gameday.......finally! Sticking with my initial gut feeling which tells me it will be a low scoring, defensive struggle. Assuming that both offenses will struggle I believe the better defense will be the deciding factor which gives WB a slight edge IMO. Govs - 16 Bears - 10